Biohydromet '12 technical programme announced, together with a major sponsor

MEI Conference delegates in Falmouth

For anyone with an interest in biohydrometallurgy, Falmouth is the place to be in June.  The technical programme for Biohydromet '12 has now been published, and contains papers from authors from 22 countries, including three keynote lectures reviewing the state of the art of biohydrometallurgy in the minerals industry.



MEI Conference Dinner at Eden






The conference will provide delegates with the opportunity of learning about progress in this field, and also to network with a truly international audience. The conference dinner will be at Cornwall's iconic Eden Project.

We are also pleased to announce that ProMine, a research project co-funded by the European Community's 7th Framework Programme has agreed to provide major corporate support for the conference.

From the MEI Archives #14- Cape Town 2000

Cape Town is now established as MEI's major conference venue.  The first MEI conference in Cape Town was Minerals Engineering 2000, attended by 125 delegates at the Mount Nelson Hotel.

The Mount Nelson was our favoured venue for six years, until we discovered the magnificent Vineyard Hotel, which was first used for Flotation '07.

Great news for MEI’s major conference location

It has come as no great surprise to us that Tripadvisor has named Cape Town as the best destination in the world, beating Australia's Sydney into the second spot, with Machu Picchu coming in third, Paris in fourth and Rio de Janeiro in fifth, while London picked up eighth position.

Table Mountain and Robben Island were named as Cape Town highlights in the awards, based on millions of user reviews.

The city has seen a massive boost in tourism numbers over the last couple of months, with The V&A Waterfront seeing more than three million visitors during December, Table Mountain Aerial Cableway attracting more than 100,000 visitors throughout the past month, and the City Sightseeing Bus running at full capacity during December.

So if you are attending one of our 4 conferences in Cape Town this year, do try to set aside some time before or after the event for some serious sight-seeing. It really is a wonderful location- almost as good as Cornwall!!

From the MEI Archives - Ipoh, 1988

From 1956 the price of tin had been regulated by a series of international agreements between producers and customers under the auspices of the International Tin Council (ITC), which mirrored the highly successful policy of De Beers in controlling the gem diamond trade. Price stability was sought through selling from the ITC’s huge stockpiles when the price rose and buying into the stockpile when the price fell.

From the mid-1970s, however, the price of tin was driven artificially higher at a time of world recession, expanding production and falling consumption, and in October 1985 the buffer stock manager announced that the ITC could no longer finance the purchase of tin to prop up the price, as it had run out of funds, owing millions of pounds to the LME traders. This announcement caused near panic, the tin price fell drastically and the LME halted all further dealings. In 1986 many of the world’s tin mines, including the once thriving Cornish operations, were forced to close down due to the depressed tin price, and prices continued to fall in subsequent years.

In October 1988, the International Symposium on Research and Development in Extractive Metallurgy of Tin and Related Metals (ISRADEMT) was held in the tin mining town of Ipoh in Malaysia, to look for ways forward for the industry. I presented a paper showing how tin operations must seek to diversify, something which is still being attempted at South Crofty, the last of the Cornish tin mines to close. Although it was a very enjoyable conference, I have doubts that it achieved a great deal. The tin industry never really recovered from the 1985 crash, and only the huge alluvial dredging operations, with very low operating costs per tonne, managed to survive. Below I am with conference delegates visiting the giant tin dredge at the Malaysian Mining Corporation, Ipoh.

Tales of Wild Africa

One of the great attractions of coming out to Cape Town for an MEI Conference is not just the quality of the technical programmes, but the opportunity that it gives delegates to explore the southern part of this enormous and fascinating continent.

Apart from the wonderful scenery, viewing the unique wildlife is on most agendas and there are many exciting venues in which to do this, including the huge National Parks, such as Kruger. There are also many smaller and less known game reserves, such as the excellent Aquila, only a day’s excursion from Cape Town.

Of the “big five” most people aim to see elephant and lion and a first time glimpse of these magnificent beasts in the wild is a truly awesome experience. Sometimes you may be lucky to get up close, as we were during our trip to the conference in Phalaborwa last July.

But it can be good not to get too close, as I was discussing with Joe Felix of CiDRA, during last year’s Flotation ’11 in Cape Town. Respecting the wildlife and obeying the Park rules is essential, and Joe sent me these amazing pictures of a tourist’s encounter with a rather large elephant in, he thinks, Pilansberg game reserve, located not far from Johannesburg. The elephants at Pilansberg are notorious for attacking and killing rhinos.

Joe also sent this photo, taken by his daughter whilst in a trip to the Lion Park just outside Johannesburg. Apparently a high pitch scream was heard as the driver and passenger wrestled with the lioness, which had jumped up to an open window. The driver tried moving by revving the car, which was in neutral, before finally putting it in gear and managing to move away from the scene. The car was seen heading off in a hurry ...

Pretty scary stuff, and a reminder to keep doors and window closed, but can anyone beat this story of Amanda’s encounter with lions in the Serengeti in Tanzania 10 years ago:

In 2001 I went on a budget safari trip in Tanzania, taking in the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater.


On the first night in the Serengeti, the small group that I was travelling with sat around a small fire, drinking beer and getting to know each other. Eventually, it was time to call it a night and we headed into our respective tents. As the only single person on the trip, I headed off alone, thinking how lucky it was that I didn't have to share with a stranger.

Amanda and friends in Tanzania
Mustapha is in the centre

That thought didn't last long. As we abandoned the glowing embers of our fire, in moved the lions, presumably to take advantage of its warmth. It was mating season, and the only thought that got me through the long night ahead was that our guide, Mustapha, had told us that lions do not eat during the mating period.


All night we were treated to the sounds of two lions mating just outside our tents. Whilst the act itself appeared to be short and sweet, there were many repeat performances, and at the end of each the lion let out a mighty roar which resonated through my whole body, not unlike the feeling you get if you stand next to a massive speaker at a rock concert.


This was bad enough, especially as I really needed to get rid of some of that beer, but then the happy couple decided they needed a rest.... and flopped down against the side of my tent... the side my bed was on! I swear, that lion was no more than half a foot from me, so close that I could hear him breathing. Something I wasn't doing!


It was the longest night of my life. I was too afraid to move, as my sleeping bag rustled loudly with every small twitch, and I spent the night planning my defence. This mainly consisted of spraying deodorant in his eyes and whacking him with my hair brush. Ha!


Finally, finally, the sun came up and I tentatively unzipped my tent and poked my head out. The rest of my group were huddled on the far side of the campsite, frantically waving at me to join them. I ran across, and Mustapha pointed back across to my tent, where, just behind it, we could clearly see the lioness resting in the shade of some trees. He wasn't worried though and cheerfully repeated his assertion that we were safe because they were only interested in mating.


One of the group asked Mustapha, “but if anything had of happened, you'd have shot the lion yes?”, to which he replied, “oh no, no, no, no, no. I do not have a gun, it is not allowed in the National Park”.   What?!?

If anyone can beat that story, or if you have other interesting encounters with wildlife, please let us know.

Win a free registration to an MEI Conference

The MEI blog is increasing in popularity, with 3000 visitors and over 5000 page views recorded in November.

But which blog posting has had the most page views? We are offering a free registration to any 2 or 3-day MEI Conference to the first person to guess correctly. Submit your guess to me by email (bwills@min-eng.com) by the end of the month (no multiple submissions please). As soon as the first correct entry is received, I will announce the winner on the blog.